


Under the Moons of Darillium: Part 1 Mummies in the Desert

by Stardance1



Series: Under the Moons of Darillium: A Night of Adventures [1]
Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Doctor Who (2005), Doctor Who (Big Finish Audio), The Diary of River Song (Big Finish Audio)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Multi, Post-Episode: 2015 Xmas The Husbands of River Song
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-06
Updated: 2018-09-06
Packaged: 2019-07-07 16:16:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15911817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stardance1/pseuds/Stardance1
Summary: The Doctor and River Song are together on Darillium. They have 24 years of adventures ahead!Part 1 - 'Mummies in the Desert' takes us to the sand dunes of Darillium where peril awaits at every turn. How will River and the Doctor escape? And what evil truly lies in wait?





	Under the Moons of Darillium: Part 1 Mummies in the Desert

The last vestiges of daylight streaked across the sky, ghostly spectral hues of orange and red brushstrokes, fading away as though on a breeze, hiding any remainder of the setting sun. Evening had officially descended on this half of Darillium, and the surrounding homes and businesses were all well prepared. One by one buildings and dwellings draped in tiny white fairy lights switched on, making the ground look like a corner of space, sprinkled with stars, as far as the eye could see.  
The Doctor and River Song sat across from each other on their reserved balcony at the Chez Alphonse Restaurant, watching the sky darken and the moons of Darillium slowly ascend overhead.  
They were so completely distracted, that when their waiter came to take their order, neither of them was even remotely prepared. Slightly embarrassed, the Doctor asked the tall thin gentleman for a few more minutes to review the menu. He smiled at River over his menu.  
After all, it wasn’t just the view that Chez Alphonse was known for, but its food was also reputed to be the finest in the galaxy; the Diamond of Darillium it had come to be known.  
"So Doctor,” River Song said, as she reviewed the daily specials, “what will you be having tonight, the imported Venusian Nightfish entree, or shall we ask the chef for a special order of fish fingers and custard”. Her eyes sparkled with laughter as she leaned over their table teasing the Doctor.  
She winked at him as he became momentarily flustered by her words, and the soft glow of light that danced around her face.  
“I’m not that fond of fish at the moment actually." The Doctor shook his head slightly as he responded, "What about you River, what are you thinking of having?”  
After a momentary pause, to quickly peruse the menu and make a decision, River answered, “I thought the sun-dried horned squash lasagna sounded lovely…”  
“Listen,” she exclaimed suddenly interrupting her own thought, “the towers are getting ready to sing again!”  
Sure enough, almost as though an orchestra was tuning its instruments, the Towers prepared for their song. A long and steady gust of wind from the East pushed through the Towers, igniting their crystal layer, and commencing the celestial chords of music.  
River drew in her breath and held it, awestruck by the beauty of the Towers and the angelic voices that emanated from within. It took every bit of self control not to race back to the balcony railing and lean over to watch.  
The Doctor quietly summoned the waiter, and after placing two orders for the lasagna, turned his attention back to River.  
“Aren’t they breathtaking Doctor?” River asked turning back and grinning at him.  
“They are something,” he whispered, mostly to himself since River’s question was meant to be rhetorical “but .. not as breathtaking as you.”  
He lifted his glass of chilled glacial water and toasted her silently.  
River stopped breathing all together for a few moments, the steady rhythm of a timelord heartbeat beat in her ears.  
Thump thump, thump thump...  
She met his eyes across the balcony, and a wave of electricity passed between them.  
Thump thump, thump thump...  
“I had been waiting to see them for quite a long time” River responded softly.  
The Doctor opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the clatter and bustle of the waiters bringing their meal. The staff placed the plates of pasta, salad and soup, onto beautifully ornate golden charger plates on their intimate bistro table built for two.  
With the table scape laid out, the Doctor and River set to eat.  
They watched each other, taking bites here and there of their lasagna. But it was obvious that their interests lay beyond the meal.  
Thump thump, thump thump…  
They took instead to reminiscing, laughing about this or that memory, something funny her parents had done or said, adventures they had gone on together, and those they still hoped to go on. The Doctor was a little quieter at those, but the happiness in his eyes at watching his ever animated and passionate wife did not diminish.  
Two hours later, they’d both given up on their dinner, and were once again standing side by side at the balcony’s railing, looking out at the Towers, holding cups of tea in their hands, and watching their new, not so temporary, home stretch into its long night.  
"I think we'd better make another reservation here before we leave, River.” the Doctor said raising his eyebrows and placing their empty tea cups on the table.  
“Oh, did you like the food Doctor?” she asked distractedly.  
"I don’t think I tasted one bite," he admitted with a shrug.”But I enjoyed my dinner immensely.” He reached out and covered her hand with his.  
Thump thump, thump thump...  
“Me too,” River responded with a growing smile. This new spirit of frankness was taking some getting used to, she thought.  
Just then, the waiter returned. "Would you like dessert?” he asked, extending a special menu card, “we can review the daily specials with you.” But instead of accepting, River grabbed her clutch purse suddenly in a hurry. “Yes, I would.”  
thump thump, thump thump  
She lifted her eyes to meet the Doctors, “But not from here.”  
River tossed a 25 credit chip on the table and extended her hand to to the Doctor.  
He took her hand… “It was meant to be my treat”, he protested gently, but she simply tossed her hair determinedly at him, and responded with finality, “You can get the check next time. As for the treat, well…”, she tilted her face toward him, "we'll have plenty of time for you to show me”.  
Thump thump, thump thump…  
He wasn’t sure if it was the night air, or River, but suddenly the Doctor felt all sorts of warm.  
_________________  
The Doctor had parked the Tardis in the restaurant’s coat room, right off of the main entrance. He and River walked hand in hand through the doors, and without so much as turning his head around, he shut the doors with the snap of his fingers.  
He felt a shudder pass through her body at the sound.  
Thump thump, thump thump...  
Alone at last, he thought to himself.  
"First things first," he said to River. With a flick of two switches on the main console, the Doctor had moved the Tardis from the restaurant interior, to a small isolated parcel of land beyond the towers, where he and River could look up at the moons and stars of Darillium.  
Even on Darillium they would stay on the Tardis. It was their home. Their rooms contained their memories and mementoes. The Doctor knew that Alphonse had offered to house the Tardis for as long as they wanted, and were welcome to remain at the restaurant, but both he and River needed to rest nearer the stars.  
The reality is that it was safer too to be a bit isolated. No matter where in space and time they found themselves, in some ways the Doctor and River would always have a target on their backs. They expected this, and whether or not they discussed it, they knew what was safest. 

The Doctor looked around for River, but he wasn’t sure where she’d run off to.  
He noticed though that the Tardis had cleaned up after their crash landing earlier. Everything shone just a bit more.  
The room decorations were the same, but the light in the Tardis had more golden hue to it, warm and inviting, like the sun that had disappeared from the sky. The Tardis was always happiest when River was here he thought, her child and her runaway Timelord together.  
“Is it mood lighting Doctor?” River asked quietly. Her voice suddenly right behind him and he whipped his head and body around to face her.  
thump thump, thump thump  
"The Tardis redecorating", he explained hastily, “happy you’re home.”  
She stood there simply, in a long black night gown, with one stubborn strap perilously close to falling off her shoulder.  
"Should we... retire, Doctor”? her eyes met his again, and again they both felt the same jolt.  
Thump thump, thump thump...  
"I should think so River”, he responded, “I’ve moved the Tardis outdoors, and closer to the Towers.”  
“Mm-hmm”, River said, her eyes still deadlock sealed to his.  
His eyebrows hovered together, he extended his hand to River, held it, and led her to their bedroom, one they had shared for so many years, but that had now gone unopened for too long. 

——————————  
The first time that River slept with the Doctor, was not the first time that he’d slept with her.  
At that time, he had known every secret longing, every place to touch and caress, every action that would illicit a moan, things that were secret even from her own consciousness, he knew.  
Physically too, it was unlike any other experience in the Universe. Time was not the boss of him, so he could linger over her for eternities until pleasure took on new meaning. His two hearts pumped virility from an endless fountain of energy and passion, until desire coursed through his body and poured out into her like a super nova. No matter the body, no matter the face, no matter the time they’d been apart, he could find her, fill her, satisfy her in a way that nothing else could. 

Similarly, the first time that the Doctor slept with River, she played him like a fine tuned fiddle. There was nothing he had to ask for that she didn’t anticipate, nothing that he could desire that she did not seamlessly provide. She was confident in that, proud in the knowledge that she could be for him what he needed, just as he was everything for her.  
But this time was different. This time, they were finding each other again, for the first time. 

Suddenly as she approached their bed she felt almost shy. Here she faced this new body, this new regeneration, a new face that she had just met. But she loved this man, and all of his faces. There was no doubt there. Her husbands, they were all so different, and yet the same man. Like his sonic screwdriver. Same software, different cover.  
It wasn’t the physical changes that gave her pause. But coming off of that terrible confrontation with King Hydroflax, this was the first time that they both fully began to understand and accept what they meant to each other. And that had done something strange to her hearts.  
Thump thump, thump thump…  
As though, all of their hearts were already dancing together.  
Thump thump, thump thump…  
In rhythm.  
Thump thump, thump thump...  
She looked up into his eyes and imperceptibly to anyone in the universe except the Doctor, they were questioning. Liquid green pools of confusion at her own nerves. But he understood.  
Thump thump, thump thump…  
And as she ever so slightly bit the bottom of her lip nervously, her hearts slamming into her chest, her breathing quickened and became shallow, the Doctor bent his head down lower to her. He brushed her curls off of her shoulder and wrapped his hand around her head, pulling her closer.  
She gazed into his eyes. There was no hiding behind innuendo or suspicion or even hope. There was only certainty in their commitment to each other, more profound than she had ever seen. It had been a long time in coming, for both of them. And while that should have been calming, really it was like drug that made their hearts beat wildly and their blood surge, leaving only a deafening pounding in their ears.  
Thump thump, thump thump...  
Now closer together, they could hear each other’s hearts, and feel their breaths as they mingled. They were separated by mere inches but drawn together as though a magnetic field was being generated between them.  
River leaned closer, brushing her fingers on his jaw and pulling his face even closer. So close, she couldn’t help but lick the Doctor’s bottom lip as she moistened her own lips.  
In that instant, all pretense of barriers fell and they both lost control. Each holding the other, kissing deeply, madly, reverting to their respiratory bypass systems so that their lips could cling to each other an eternity longer.  
Thump thump, thump thump…  
It could never be enough.  
The Doctor traced her lips with his tongue, and she hungrily drank it in. Their tongues, desperate to memorize their taste, to claim their love, fought to meld together.  
The Doctor moaned his approval into her mouth, and it momentarily brought River back in control.  
"No, my love", she said playfully pushing him onto the bed, “This time, we have all the time in the world.”  
The Doctor gave her a lopsided grin.  
"River, River, River", he said, reaching up for her with both hands, tangling his powerful fingers in her curls, and pulling her into the bed with him.  
As she shifted in closer to him, and cuddled into his arms, he pushed himself up, scooting further back in the bed, reclining against the headboard.  
She understood instantly, hiking her nightdress up and straddled his legs, steading herself, and pulling herself further up by his strong, wide shoulders.  
He watched her with amusement as she slid her fingers across his chest, across his jaw, and down the front of his neck, playing with the tiny buttons of his dress shirt and relishing the feel of his soft silken black cravat.  
She explored this new body, her husbands new body, with the eyes of an anthropologist, categorizing everything, memorizing everything, taking in every detail and laying claim to it.  
His suit was luxurious, a heavy black silk from the Metebelis IV planet, spun as a gift from the Great 8 Leg himself she was sure. River loved to touch it, but like gifts on Christmas morning, she knew an even better prize lay beneath. She had to focus.  
She began to unfastened his trousers and her eyes widened as he sprang forth eagerly into her hands. Her eyes met his near disbelief and she shook her head at him slowly. "My Darling, where have you been hiding this!" she exclaimed, “Seriously, are these trousers bigger on the inside?” The Doctor smirked at her but then quickly sucked in his breath and used his two hands to steady himself on the bed, gripping the bed covers until his knuckles whitened.  
River had bowed her head reverently taking the fully engorged, pulsating staff, into her mouth. Her lips reverberated at the tip as a content sigh escaped her mouth.  
Her fingers seared his skin, leaving timeless imprints everywhere she touched, her gaze, her lips, her fingerprints, time and space could never erase. They wouldn’t dare, thought the Doctor.  
Her lips and tongue traced the ridge of his arousal and suddenly he ceased thinking at all.  
River flipped her hair up and smiled at him broadly. She started to pull off the delicate black nightdress she was wearing, before she realized it wasn’t worth the trouble. With the superior upper body strength of her human plus timelord DNA, she tore the material off as though it had been made of paper.  
The Doctor’s eyes widened slightly as he watched her toss the shredded material in a heap next to the bed, and then wait patiently while his eyes filled with her body. He didn’t know how to express how proud he was of her, her fearless, reckless abandon in love and in life; the way that she could confront King Hydroflax one moment with a sonic trowel and sit here the next moment, a glorious queen perched mightily on her throne.  
A beautifully seductive naked queen of course, straddling his hips. She shifted her weight on him rhythmically and coursed a tidal wave of electricity through both of their bodies.  
The rest of the Universe could disappear when they were together like this, she vibrated for him like the time vortex, and like the vortex, she would become intrinsically a part of him.  
She moaned as he pulled her forward and kissed her lips, molding them against hers, moving them gently, purposefully, like softly singing a song.  
They were both out of breath when River finally unwrapped her arms from around his neck and pulled away slightly. Her long lashes slowly and seductively batted for him, as she watched for his next move, like a tigress ready to pounce.  
But like a skilled magician, he swooped up her mass of thick strawberry blond curls in one large hand, pulling her lips back toward his, and at the same time with his other hand explored her body, stroking her breasts, teasing her nipples, caressing the soft skin of her torso. His fingers twinkled across her waist, dropping lower, stealing against the bare hallow of her back, pulling her closer.  
His mouth still on her, he moved his fingers to where they were joined, finding the delicate acclivity he sought, his hearts, tongue, and fingers percussed in rhythm.  
River lost control and broke their kiss to drop her head back in deep moan, her fingers gripping the Doctor's hair as she endlessly mumbled his name. His mouth sought her breasts and suckled hard eliciting yet another loud moan, this one a unison of both of their voices.  
The Doctor sat there, legs stretched out, with her on top. Her eyes met his and she purposely kept them there. Both of them, eyes, open, basking in their equality, in their partnership, challenging each other forward.  
They had met hundreds of times across time and space, but one of them always with more knowledge, one of them always with an upper hand or an edge, now here they were embraced in love and completely open to each other.  
Eyes zeroed in on the other, they took and gave equally, wildly. Rocking and moving and moaning until suddenly, just like with their wedding kiss, it felt as though time around them had became tactile and moved with them, propelled by their touch.  
The Doctor adjusted his position, kneeling down under her, lifting both of her legs onto his shoulders. Her eyes widened further and she arched back, fulling taking in everything he was offering her, thrust by thrust. Passion tore a loud scream from River and literally pushed the Doctor off of his precipice. He pulled her back, lungeing himself into her as deeply and fully as he could, merging with her, filling her so completely that it was like they were the only two pieces of a puzzle. A burst of white light filled the room, enveloping everything like the core of an exploding star exposing itself, quaking in the power of their climax.  
They collapsed back on the bed, hot, entangled, not knowing where one ended and the other began.  
“Doctor", River finally whispered, hoarsely and still out of breath, “that was more than earth-shattering.” She leaned forward and traced his ear with her tongue. She just couldn’t stop touching him.  
“We were rather magnificent, weren’t we”, the doctor agreed coyly.  
But then as her fingers crept into the soft waves of his hair, her eyes widened in shock. She looked quickly down at her own skin, and her hearts stuttered in disbelief. She looked around and as sure as anything she could see the embers of regeneration energy flickering in the room.  
“Doctor!" She hissed, jumping up out of bed, naked and very alarmed. She shook her curls out as though to clear her head. "Your roots,” she pointed accusingly at his head, "your roots are darkened, my skin is, well, my skin is glowing!”  
"Yes it is," the Doctor nodded approvingly, “but you’re always glowing River.”  
She looked down angrily and swatted at him.  
“Doctor, explain yourself, did you just release regeneration energy?!?" She crossed her arms and did her best to look severe, but she was a naked angry angel, and no matter what she did at this moment the Doctor didn’t care if she was scolding.  
The Doctor looked around the room, and shrugged again and smiled.  
“River, we did this together,” he explained, “lets just say…” he tapped the bed next to him.  
River went over to him and sat down, still weary and not to close, “it’s artron energy that was released from the atmosphere around us, we seem to have induced a type of frisson of energy from the surrounding air. Some places have extra artron energy, and this spot on Darillium must be one of them. Two timelords vibrating, in just the right way, must have compelled a… chain reaction.”  
She looked pensive, but nodded as she decided to accept his answer.  
"I told you we were pretty marvelous,” he whispered into her ear, as she snuggled back down on top of his. the smile spreading from her lips to his. Suddenly she wanted nothing more than to hold on to him. She did so and then sternly propped herself up by his shoulders and looked at him.  
"It won’t happen every time River", he said with a laugh  
“Oh?" River challenged.  
"I guess we’ll need plenty of practice then!" he said, circling his arms around her and rolling her onto her back and kissing her. She didn’t complain.  
_________________________ 

Hours later the Doctor lay still holding a contentedly exhausted River in his arms while she slept. Here she was, after so many times he’d tried to let her go, this Woman who saw him, who could always find him and call to him, even in dreams, always accepted him without hesitation, the real him, under all of these faces and masks, heard his truth under all of his carefully constructed lies, would leap out of buildings and spaceships without blinking once, always having complete trust and confidence in him in a way that no other sane person ever could, here she was cuddled in his arms, and he had 24 years to learn to let her go again, or figure out finally how to hold on to her, figure out how to will time to slow for them.  
He knew it wasn’t fair to the Universe or to her, but he wouldn’t let her go now. She was his home in a way that Gallifrey had never been or at least had not been in millennia and couldn’t be anymore, she was where his pretense could fall and he could find a way to himself again. Two rogue planets, forging an orbit at last around each other, where ironically enough, there was peace.  
That pull toward her was unmistakable to him, every time she grabbed his hand, every time they ran together, or even if her nose was within the physical vicinity of his hand it was beyond a compulsion to bop it. He needed her.  
He held her tighter and gave in to sleep himself.  
But not for too long, his last thought was, for they had things to do, and time to make the most of.

___________________ 

The next morning the Doctor was sitting down on the bed with his electric guitar and some blank sheets of music, strumming and happily making notations. He mussed as he hummed, casually writing. River sat down next to him, got comfortable on the bed and began to write in a new book.  
He looked over at her, amused as she sat with her legs folded under her, her pen effortlessly gliding on a page.  
"What are you writing there," he said to her….  
She picked up a new Tardis blue book and grinned at him, holding it away. This diary was solid blue with a lock, and a key.  
"Hey, where did you get that? he asked.  
"Child of the Tardis," she replied shrugging her shoulders with a smile. "It was on the nightstand this morning”.  
"River you don’t need a diary to write down what happens on Darillium, because our timeline will be linear while we’re here.” the Doctor continued, "I’m not letting you out of my sight.”  
He bopping her nose with a chuckle.  
"New book, new purpose.” she answered secretly, shaking out her curls. Distracting him as she always with a freshly washed wave of the scent from her hair.  
His eyes searched hers … “What do you mean, River.”  
“Spoilers…” she teased, holding the book to her chest.  
"Oh well, I’m sure we’ll have plenty of adventures in this place for you to fill that to your hearts content,” the Doctor said.  
River, suddenly popped up like a jumping bean.  
“I know that face, what have you got planned Doctor?” River said excitedly, “I’ve already started a list of things we should do here… explore the crystal layer, climb the singing towers, find a local black market, go up to the planetary rings, visit a moon…”  
"How do you know there is a black market!" the Doctor scoffed at River, but his eyes were charmed by her energy.  
River rolled her eyes at him, but still smiled, "Sweetie, there is always a black market!"  
"I like it when we do diaries in bed." she confided coyly, reliving past adventures in her mind. “But you can’t see either book. This one is a surprise, and the other has entries you don’t remember yet…” She teased.  
The Doctor smirked back at her, but accepted her word without further inquiry.  
“So what is our plan…” she inquired excitedly…  
“Perhaps have an archeological exploration for the sand mummies?”  
River was shocked, the Doctor generally pointed and laughed at archeology, but here he was suggesting an adventure he planned just for her. Her mouth agape, River nodded happily.  
“Then let’s get to it,” the Doctor said pleased with himself. He stood up and put down his guitar.  
_____________________ 

River shivered as she climbed the sand dunes.  
“It’s getting colder Doctor,” she said.  
“Yes, the longer this side of the planet goes without sun, the colder it will get, especially around the sand. But since the days are so long on Darillium the warmth will last another while yet, River.” Still he stopped climbing the tall windswept dune, faced her, and rubbed her arms for warmth with his hands.  
“Just wait until we get to the top of this dune River, it will all be worth it…and it will be warmer and less windy below and on the way down…"  
“Oh my!” River exclaimed, interrupting him “I’ve never seen anything like it.”  
She grabbed his hand and broke into an excited run, up over the final peak of the dune and down the other side to get a clearer view of the ruins below.  
Their feet got caught in the deep sandy reservoirs and they rolled over each other part of the way down the dune. Laughing and tumbling, the Doctor held her happily, but she just kissed his sandy cheek loudly and said come on. River jumped up and pulled him up beside her.  
Emerging from the sand at the bottom of the valley was an adobe city unlike anything either of them had ever seen. Its eroded walls poked up from the waves of sand as they danced in the wind, long and entwined: an intricate maze of woven labyrinths proudly held their history.  
“What is it Doctor? It doesn’t look like any burial ground I’ve seen, and trust me, I love me a tomb…”  
“No River, the mummies aren’t here, this is a town….” he continued.  
“This is the Town of Paquime, it was first settled by some of the original colonists to Darillium. They arrived during the day, and had to dwell in caves for the natural coolness and to find some sources of water. But as the evening approached Darillium, they quickly baked these unique trapezoid adobe bricks and built these structures. For safety their buildings were made into these interconnected mazes, and they were quite tight knit.”  
“And then the mummies Doctor?” River asked as her hands reverently touched the cool smooth sides of the adobe walls.  
“Well with the long night, the Paquime had to bury their dead out in the desert, but soon they realized that it was so cool and windy and dry out there, that the bodies did not naturally decompose. It caused them to think of death differently, they kept track of their loved ones, brought the mummies out during the nights of darkness and danced with them…”  
"You think you're so hot when you spout off facts like that, don’t you Doctor," River said shaking her head and smiling at his back as they tracked through the sand. "I do," the Doctor said turning around and winking at her, “and... so do you…”. River laughed as he bopped her nose.  
“You should be a professor one day, like me.” She said, wrapping her arm around his.  
“Maybe I will River, maybe I will…”  
“So, my love, why did they stop? Where did they all go?” River asked inquisitively refocussing on the amazing archeological site in front of her. “Don’t they celebrate with the dead any more?”  
The Doctor shrugged, “No idea. Perhaps cultural changes: what once brought them joy then brings them fear and then they forget… it’s been hundred of years that the celebrations haven’t taken place. But I think the white twinkle lights in the city are a remnant of that time, calling the souls back to their homes."  
River looked across and under the lights and shadows cast from the still rising moons of Darillium. Low in the valley, the haze from the heat escaping from the sand made gentle ripples through the air.  
Suddenly, as she skirted the adobe walls and walked across the low sand dunes, lower into the valley, she could pick out wind swept mounds with what appeared to be glimpses of legs and arms emerging from the sand.  
“Doctor! Look at that!” shouted River as she briskly made a beeline to one mound.  
“Yes those clouds look dark," the Doctor said, “We should be careful River, the sand seems to be kicking up into a storm."  
"Not that Doctor, look over here…” River paused calling him over to an area where she stood surrounded by mounds, she knelt down over a sand mummy. “Some of the bodies appear to be wrapped in a woven sort of twine rope, other bodies are bulging with what I think are adobe bricks, some were painted in colors and have wigs, and look, others have some kind of sand eroded stone mask… “  
She gasped, a look of complete terror shading her face. The Doctor started to run toward her.  
“Doctor, watch behind you! I’m sorry!” River whispered loudly, and then like wave of sand lost in the wind, she disappeared.  
Time had seemed to slow to a lurch as she dematerialized. He could see a tear form and then slowly roll down her cheek as her outstretched hand reached toward him, pointing at an unknown object.  
“No. No. No.” the Doctor shouted, he clawed at the sand where she had been.  
Then he stood up, and as he did, he realized he was no longer alone.  
There all around him, standing as though having just emerged from water, were sand eroded mummies, faces rubbed off from the sand, some with appendages missing, but even in that darkness, he could recognize them.  
It was a cluster of Weeping Angels, and they had taken River.  
He pointed at them with his sonic screwdriver, spinning around like a mad clock, “You can’t have her.” His lips curled in anger.  
He looked up at the sky and thrust his arms open to the world. “Take me to her he shouted.”  
And suddenly there was quiet in the dark desert valley again, the Doctor, his wife, and the Angels, were all gone.  
_______________________  
He opened his eyes and his sight had to adjust to the pitch black darkness.  
He was in a wet, rocky room. A cave, he thought with wonder. He listened to his sonic screwdriver, as it reported back on the scan of the Angels he had taken. They haven’t moved us back in time, he knew.  
He pictured River, and thinking she must be close somewhere in the labyrinth of the underground cave, he imagined her in that final nanosecond before she disappeared and attempted to use his mental telepathy to get her a message.  
"River. River, trust me they’re not strong enough to send you back in time, don’t fight them, they’ll only get stronger using the energy of your emotions. Remain calm, I’m coming for you. Trust me. Trust me. Trust me River."  
Trust him? Even to death she would. She could feel his voice softly in her mind. In response, she whispered his name back in Gallifreyan, “Always and completely, my love", she added. It was her wedding vow and she promised to uphold it.  
Across time and space she would run with the Doctor, and if he needed her to wait, she would watch and do as she was told. Unless he needed her help, in which case she would watch and be ready. Give everything that she could to get back to him.  
He then heard the echo of his name back in his mind, the Gallifreyan strengthening his resolve. Then River’s vow melted his heart, bringing tears to his eyes. "You want her, but she’s my wife! And she’s a bit busy for the next 24 years on a date with me, so push off!” the Doctor whispered harshly to the Angels that must have been hiding in the shadows.  
He couldn’t lose his temper, he knew. In a little over an hour they could collect enough emotional energy from the two of them to move them off of Darillium, or move them back in time. What’s worse, he knew that if they won, if they moved her in time or space, he’d lose her forever.  
_________  
River was alone. Sitting on the humid, damp, cave floor.  
She’d been waiting in the darkness for the Doctor, but she could sense that something else was approaching.  
Suddenly, out of the shadows a person’s figure emerged in front of her…  
“Run!” A voice came from behind River as someone tried to grab her hand, but she knew it wasn't the Doctor. River slapped her hand away and it felt like she’d punched rock. “I run with the Doctor!" she shouted and then she picked up the uneven taupe skirts of her Zeeda dress and then tried to run out of the cave. But she remembered his words. Trust him.  
"He always leaves you behind, you know.” A doppleganger of River emerged from the shadows, "You are always manipulating him with your, 'my loves' and 'my darlings' mush”.  
“No!" River whispers. "You’re wrong… I accept that every moment can be our last together, and I can only rest knowing that I’ve used every second that I have with him letting him know that he is loved." Doppelgänger River continued to try goad her, but River couldn’t hear her anymore. She saw the Doctors faces, all of them, with her through time. Running with her, holding her hand, dancing with her, kissing her, and one after the other bopping her nose.  
She calmed down.  
Returned to her wet jail cell and sat back down. 

The Doctor was also visited by a provoking shadow figure. But this one took on his own image. The doppelgänger Doctor scanned him with his sonic screwdriver. “Mm-hmm,” just as I suspected he said to the Doctor, “selfish.”  
“Are you going to rescue her, or just watch her die again for you Doctor?”… “I wonder”… The Doppleganger continued his assault to extricate a reaction from the Doctor.  
But the Doctor doesn’t budge. He confessed aloud, "I’m not the valeyard and I’m not the watcher, I am prepared to die for her, and kill for her but more than that, I’m prepared to live for her and with her.”  
Behind him he heard the shrieking laughter of the Angels and they queued up a bigger assault.  
But as he wondered what it could be and how he could prepare himself, the flashing light of the Tardis bulb flickered in the room.  
“Hear that Angels?” the Doctor laughed, “It’s the best sound in the world, the sound of a Tardis, with the parking breaks on!”  
The sound filled the room, and light exploded from within. 

______________ 

The Doctor ran through the cave network and found River, as he’d imagined her, waiting for him in a dark room. Sitting peacefully.  
“They’re gone.” She said, knowingly.  
“All gone.” the Doctor confirmed, kneeling next to her and wrapping her head in his arms, pulling her to his chest.  
“Let’s climb out of here.”  
She took his hand, and he squeezed it back in response.  
________________  
“Those Weeping Angels had been eroded by the sand of the Darillium deserts, they were too weak to send people back in time, so they evolved over the centuries. They would project a reality over their prisoners, feeding off of their desperation and fear.” The Doctor and River walked slowly back over the dunes. River’s head rested on his shoulder. Her fingers entwined with his.  
The Doctor continued, "They were attracted to the time energy they could feel around us and around the Tardis.”  
“I felt lost, until I heard your voice,” River admitted, “like a child lost in a store, surrounded by strangers.”  
“I was the same,” the Doctor confessed, “until I heard you whisper my name.” he picked up her hand and kissed it. “That’s their ruse. You are lost in a storm or in a daze, whatever your worst fears, they send you into a labyrinth of projected fear and then feed off of it. If we hadn’t trusted each other…”  
“But we did.” She answered reassuringly. Stopping and looking at him so that he understood. “We’re fine.”  
“The Tardis saved us,” the Doctor told her, “The Weeping Angels had been manipulating the morphic fields on Darillium. The Tardis used these fields to tow the Angels to the far side of the smallest Darillium moon. It is tidal locked there" he tells River reassuringly, "so it will always be on the dark side and they won’t be able to hurt anyone else.”  
"They’re psychopaths just like me Doctor," River said with a sad smile.  
"Maybe all of us are River. Maybe they’re the most humane, and I’m the maddest… what a pair we make River.”  
“Unbalanced?”  
“Perfectly suited.” the Doctor said with a smile  
And with that the Doctor playfully tugged on one of her curls, and she curled into his chest for warmth, and for a kiss. 

_______________________ 

 

The Doctor wakes, his eyes open and there is River, next to him, quietly watching him.  
"You should have woken me…" he says a bit groggily.  
"You were tired and you needed rest.” River answers quietly as she reaches out with her hand and runs the back of her fingers across his cheek and jaw. "We’ve had quite a day after all." Her wayward smile half a smirk.  
He took her hand, opened the palm and placed a kiss in it.  
Then he looked up, gleefully…  
“River! You forgot to tell me what you think of my new body."  
“Oh Doctor, I absolutely love it.” To demonstrate, unnecessarily, River spread her fingers across his chest. She continued, "There is something wilder, so Scottish about you… Doctor…. I can’t put my finger on it… but I’ll try. Her eyes twinkled.  
But then she became quite serious and the Doctor became concerned.  
“Doctor,” River asked, "was it for my parents, are you Scottish because you had lost your best friends?”  
"No River, it was because WE’D just lost your parents, my in-laws… and I missed OUR family."  
River nodded, a little too quickly to not have been profoundly moved by what he’d said  
She looked away, eyes stinging with tears. It still hurt sometimes to be reminded of how much she missed them.  
“Doctor", she says suddenly, tucking in the bed sheet around her chest and half reclining up on her elbow. "I need you to promise me something... No lies, please, for whatever reason, I know we’ll each go on from this place for millennia without the other, I don’t mind truly, and I know you won’t forget me…. but please, please don’t regret me either. Your work is so important, if you need to go... the Universe", she said, momentarily releasing her hand on the sheet, “can’t wait for 24 years, it needs the Doctor."  
He sighed, “ Oh River,” the Doctor said, reaching out and crushing her against him, her chest and her torso and her full length suddenly pulled tightly against his body. River couldn’t help but give a soft moan. No matter the body, no matter the time, this nearness just did things to her.  
She looked up into his eyes and listened intently.  
“River, don’t be a gooseberry!” the Doctor said with an exasperated laugh.  
A wayward smile tugged at the corner of her mouth and she playfully swatted his chest.  
"What is it with you and food references all of a sudden?”  
"I think I really like food in this body," he responded with half a shoulder shrug.  
"You could have fooled me," River said with a small shake, casting her eyes down his long slender frame. Her hands had already started to wander when the Doctor released his grip on her shoulders and went after her hands.  
"Wait River", though he really didn’t want to wait either”.  
She licked her lips in anticipation, but stopped her exploration. " I’m sorry Doctor, I have wandering hands, what can I do, they just wander…" she teased laughingly. "They must have learned from those cross arms of yours.... Or maybe it was the attack eyebrows?”  
"Let me say this River, in seriousness, and then your hands can get back to wandering….” the Doctor cleared his throat, "You have changed me, unmistakably, you have made me better and stronger and made me understand the Universe and the role I play in it in ways I couldn’t fathom before. River, I’m not staying on Darillium just for you. I swear it, I’m here for me too, to be with you because I need it. And I’m not going anywhere.”  
River’s eyes widened slightly at this. But she accepted his words with a slight nod, then her eyes dropped, deepening with passion as it grew harder and harder for him to feign disinterest at having her naked and this close.  
He released her hands, and as promised, they went back to wandering.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Look for more Doctor and River Song stories, every week! Next week: Part 2 - Attack of the Memory Worms!


End file.
